


Plan B: The Musical!

by IShipItAllAndThenSome



Series: He Loves Musical Theatre, So Why Isn't Everyone Gay? [1]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: 1930s, AU of 3x17: Duet, Bisexual Kara Danvers, F/F, F/M, Kara punches Mon-El in the face, Kissing, Minimal use of Flash characters because I haven't actually watched the show, Movie Musicals - Freeform, Song Lyrics, Songs from Pajama Game and Phantom of the Opera, Very vague descriptions of gunshot wounds and gunplay, super friends - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-01
Updated: 2017-07-01
Packaged: 2018-11-22 02:30:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11370717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IShipItAllAndThenSome/pseuds/IShipItAllAndThenSome
Summary: The Music Meister’s not an idiot. He knows a good movie has a third act twist, and he knows there are people Kara loves better than the man who lied to her for nine months and ignored every word that comes out of her mouth. A red herring for our red caped heroine? Why not!





	Plan B: The Musical!

**Author's Note:**

> Italicized text is lyrics. The songs included are I'm Not In Love from The Pajama Game and Think of Me from Phantom of the Opera.

_“You’re my super - ”_

_“That has a double meaning!"_

_“Friend!”_

The last note hung in the air, clear as a bell, and Grady gave a slow clap, an incredulous smile on his face. “Seems like we got us a number! Go hit up Tallulah, see what she can throw together for tonight.”

“Thanks, W - uh, Grady,” Kara said, giving his shoulder a squeeze. 

“Ah, get out of here,” he drawled, batting her off. “You got work to do, I got work to do, I can't do my work if you don’t do yours, so go get some new duds, _capice_?”

“We _capice_.” Barry put a hand on Kara’s sleeve and tipped his head towards the door. “C’mon, Kara, let's go meet Tallulah, whoever she is.”

They started for the exit, then stopped. Kara leaned back and asked, “Um, where might we find Tallulah?”

Grady shook his head. “How long you been working here, and you don’t know where Tallula’s closet is? My god.”

They shrugged.

“She’s in the closet off the dressing room. Go, go, go! Skedaddle!”

They skedaddled.

⭐︎☆⭐︎

There was, indeed, a door off the back of the dressing room, but what lay behind it was nowhere near a closet. 

It was sallowly lit by bare yellow bulbs, full of cardboard boxes of fabric and ribbons and enough paillettes to scale a sea of salmon, with a few silver-backed mirrors in a triptych along the left wall. In it, a woman with dark hair wearing a blue dress was reflected, picking over a basket of thread spools. When she straightened up, a flash of green eyes showed up on the glass.

Kara’s face lit up. “Lena!” 

“Lula,” the woman said, turning around. A measuring tape was wrapped around her neck like a rope of pearls, and she smiled over at Kara like she could see the stars move. “ _Ta_ llulah. Lynch.” She parked one hand on her hip and stuck the other out. “Nice ta meetcha!”

Kara took her hand and shook it, feeling the familiar softness of her skin and a little flutter in her chest. “Nice to meet you, too. I’m Kara - Danvers - and this is my friend, Barry.”

“Barry! Pleasure.”

“All mine.” 

With that, Tallulah turned and dragged Kara out of the threshold. “So, I take it you got a big show for Mistah Cuttah tonight, right?”

“Yep, we sure do.”

“He does this sometimes - ‘ya live or die by whatever you chirp out tonight’ - ”

Kara and Barry shared a nervous glance.

“ - but you’re gonna do fine! I can tell.” Tallulah picked up a piece of pale gold fabric and held it to Kara’s cheek. It was cool and soft, thin enough that the heat of her fingers permeated through. Her green eyes peered up at Kara, practically caressing the contours of her face, and she murmured, “Perfect.” 

Kara’s cheeks burned. 

“I’m gonna need your measurements, chickie,” she continued, pulling her hand back without stepping away. She turned her head, looking at Barry, and said, “Yours, too, but I think I got some tails your size hangin’ back there.” She jerked her thumb towards the mirrors. “There's a rack with tuxes and all that jazz. Go pick somethin’ out for yourself.”

Barry nodded and ducked behind the mirrors, leaving Kara and this woman who looked _so much_ like Lena alone together.

“So,” Kara started, “Tallulah…”

“Coat off, chickie.”

Kara dropped her pink jacket.

“What’s your question?”

“How'd you start working for Cutter?”

Tallulah slid her ribbon measure off her neck and reached around Kara, stretching it across her upper back. “I grew up in an orphanage. They don’t teach you much, but I learned how to sew. Got hands like a surgeon, they said.”

“I bet.”

Tallulah took note of the measurement, then wrapped the tape just under Kara’s arms. “So, Mistah Cuttah’s a community-minded kinda fella, and he goes around, pickin’ up employable types from those who ain’t got real prospects. He found me and he hired me right on the spot. I been workin’ here six years now. It’s good work, good pay.” Another note, and then she slid the tape around Kara’s bust. “Plus, since I’m an in-house tailor, I get to stab his son in the yarbles every once in a while.”

Kara laughed, clapping a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, I - ”

Tallulah looked up at her, giggling, too, even as she reprimanded, “Don’t laugh! I can’t get a measure if you’re laughing!”

“Sorry, sorry.” Kara got her laughter under control and let out a sigh. “Not a fan of ol’ Tommy Moran?”

“He ain’t nothin’. Only special thing about ‘im is his daddy, and that ain’t enough to make him worth a gal’s time.” 

Kara grinned. “Some people think he should be forgiven for being - ”

“A nasty little twerp?”

Kara swallowed a guffaw. “That’s one way to put it.”

“I got dozens more. Thing about boys like him - the liars, the cheaters, the selfish pampered little princes - is they _get forgiven_. No matter what they do or how bad they are, it all gets swept under the rug because they’re boys and they got power. If I did half the stuff he done, people’d think I'm worse than garbage.” Tallulah bent down to take another note. “Girls don’t get forgiven. Even when they ain’t done nothin’ wrong.”

When she stood back up, there was a familiar set to her jaw and gleam in her eye. Kara knew it intimately. That was what Lena looked like whenever someone assumed the worst about her, even when she was innocent, even when she was saving the whole world, just because of her last name.

Kara wrapped her arms around Tallulah’s waist and gave her a tight hug. _The only upside to not having my powers,_ she thought, _is that I can hug her as hard as I can and not hurt her_.

Then she remembered that this woman - this chatty, loyal, clever, talented woman - was not her Lena. She was just as beautiful and just as kind and just as capable, but she wasn’t Kara’s… oh.

Kara let go, straightened up, smoothed her hands over her skirt in a nervous gesture.

Tallulah looked a little flushed, heady color rising in her cheeks. She picked up her tape measure and bit her lip, looking dead up at Kara and wrapping the band around her waist. 

For a moment, they looked at each other - just looked. 

Then Tallulah wound the tape measure around her hands and pulled Kara close, stretched up on her toes, and kissed her. 

It was the briefest of pecks, but it was enough to send them both starry-eyed. 

Kara reached out, tilting Tallulah’s chin up, and kissed her. This one wasn’t so brief. It was drawn out and desperate, seamstress fingers woven into songstress hair and clutching songstress skirts. 

“I think I found something - oh!”

They didn’t even properly spring apart. They stopped kissing, sure, but Kara’s hand was still on Tallulah’s waist and Tallulah was still gripping her hip. 

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt..?”

“It’s fine.”

Tallulah cleared her throat, fingers flitting to her lips and then smoothing herself out, like nothing had happened. “You found a tux?”

“Uh, yeah, I think.” Barry looked over at Kara, then back to Tallulah, then back to Kara, whose own hand was pressed against her lips. “I’m gonna go… try it on. Don’t mind me.” 

He ran so fast behind those mirrors Kara wondered if they were getting their powers back.

Alone again, Tallulah went about measuring her as if nothing had happened - hips, arms, legs, torso length - taking notes along the way. While Barry got dressed, she started draping that gold silk over Kara, professional to the last. As she pinned the fabric onto a dress form, she looked over her shoulder at Kara and bit her lip.

Kara shrugged back into her jacket and walked over, placing a tentative hand on Tallulah’s waist. “You okay?”

Tallulah gave a faltering smile. “Not many people ask me that.”

“Well, I’m asking.”

“I’m good. Are you good?”

Kara nodded. “I’m… _very_ good.”

Tallulah’s smile softened, steadied. “Good. That’s… good.”

Out came Barry, tails and all. “Ta-da!”

Kara turned, took one look, and started clapping. “Barry! You look like Fred Astaire!”

“Who’s he?” Tallulah asked, picking up her pincushion and inspecting him. “I could take the trousers in a little, maybe let out a leg, but it’s close enough for government.”

“I don’t mind either way.”

“Hm. I’m gonna make some adjustments.” Very precisely, Tallulah pushed in a few pins, did another inspection, and nodded. “That’ll do. I should have everything done in a couple of hours. Come back at nine.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Tallulah grinned, then turned back to Kara. “That includes you, too, missy. I better be seeing you at nine sharp.”

Kara smiled back and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “You will.”

⭐︎☆⭐︎

With nothing to do, and a few hours to burn, Kara and Barry ended up wandering around outside for a while. Things were companionably silent for about half an hour before Barry spoke up.

“So, who is she? Tallulah. In your world.”

Kara’s cheeks flushed. “She’s my friend. My best friend. Lena Luthor.”

“No offense,” Barry teased, “but I don’t know many friends, even best friends, who kiss like that.”

Kara shot him a look. 

“There’s one kind of people who kiss like that. Is Lena more than..?”

“She’s not Lena.”

“She looks like her.”

“She’s not her!”

“But if she was her?”

“I’m not in love with Lena,” Kara insisted, stopping dead on the sidewalk and looking him dead in the face. Suddenly, a melody began to drift through the air, and her next words were sung. _“Love! Are you nuts?”_

Barry rolled his eyes, singing back, _“Some people can’t tell when it hits ‘em!”_

_“All you’ve gotta do is say ‘hello’ to someone, and they’ve got you whispering in their ear! All you’ve gotta do is be polite with ‘em- ”_

Barry, ducking away from her jabbing elbow, scoffed, “More than polite.”

 _“ - and they’ve got you spending the night with ‘em! If there’s someone you merely have a beer with, they’ve got you setting the wedding date! It seems they’ve just gotta have some dirt to bend your ear with, so before you start, I herewith state - ”_ Kara found herself executing a rope of chaîné turns down the sidewalk, Barry spinning after her. They hit the end of the block and Barry lifted her by the waist. Laughing, she sang, _“I’m not at all in love, not at all in love, not I!”_

As he set her down, Barry took her hand, and they started waltzing through the conveniently empty crosswalk. _“Not a bit?”_

 _“Not a mite! Though I’ll admit,”_ she crooned, a dreamy look in her eyes, _“she’s quite a wonderful gal…”_

Dipping her, Barry lifted a brow. “Wonderful, huh?”

 _“But she’s not my cup of tea!”_ Kara insisted, pulling upright and then dipping Barry so low he almost touched the blacktop. _“Not my cup of tea! Not she! Not an ounce! Not a pinch! She’s just an inch too uninterested for me!”_

Barry chassed out of her arms and leaned against the stem of a streetlamp, resting his chin on his knuckles. _“Well, of course you’ve noticed her curvy physique and that look in her eyes.”_

Kara stormed off, only to be cut off by him swinging around the lamppost, facing her again. 

_“Well, I’m sure she can cut almost any man down to size!”_

Kara poked her tongue out at him.

 _“She must be as fierce as a tiger when she’s mad!”_ Barry leapt off the pole, dukes up, before collapsing onto Kara’s shoulder. _“And I bet she comes crying to you when she’s sad!”_

 _“But I’m not,”_ Kara insisted, shoving him back onto his feet, and then down the street, singing, _“at all in love, not at all in love, not me! Not a straw! Not a hair!”_ She ruffled Barry’s, and shook her head, half-smiling. _“I don’t care that she’s as strong as a lion, or that she’s got the rest of you sighin’ - you may be sold, but this girl ain’t buying! I’m not at all in love!”_

Barry took her hands from his shoulders and hoisted her onto his back, the two of them laughing together as he sang, _“She’s not at all in love, not at all in love, not she!”_

 _“Not a pin!”_ Kara nodded sharply. _“Not a crumb!”_

_“Must be the chill that gives her that rosy glow, ‘cuz she’s not at all in love, not at all in love, she cries!”_

_“Not a snip! Not a bite!”_

_“Must be the light from the street lamps shining there in her eyes!”_ Kara jumped off and ran towards the shadow of a building, and Barry gave chase, singing, _“She’s young and gorgeous and smart, and we can’t get over it!”_

 _“But this lady’s heart she doesn’t affect a bit!”_ Kara belted stoutly, perching her fists on her hips.

 _“It’s easy to see that this daffy grin,”_ Barry cooed, leaning against the bricks beside her, _“Is a grin she always wears. And she’s breathless - ”_

“Breathless?”

_“Because she ran up a flight of stairs!”_

They both looked up. Barry appeared to be pointing to a fire escape that decidedly was not there one line ago.

Suddenly, there were pedestrians, passing by, all singing: _“Obviously! Naturally! Certainly! Naturally! Certainly!”_

 _“Ha!”_ Barry grinned at Kara, pointing at them emphatically and nudging her ribs. _“She’s not at all in love, not at all in love, not she!”_

_“No, I’m not!”_

_“Not a dot!”_

_“Not a touch!”_

_“No not much!”_

Kara was suddenly on the top of the fire escape, belting out into the night, _“When I’m in love, there’ll be no doubt about it, ‘cuz you will know by the way that I shout it!”_

Barry peered up around the railings and stage whispered, _“You’re shouting.”_

Kara let out a sigh through her nose and started down the stairs, matching his tone as she sang, _“I’m not at all in…”_

_“She’s not at all in…”_

Hands tight on the railing as she leaned over it, she was belting: _“I’m not at all in love!”_

Barry looped his arm through hers and harmonized with her. _“She’s not at all in love!”_

Just as suddenly, the pedestrians were gone, the music was gone, and they were just standing one someone else’s fire escape at dusk in the middle of the city. Kara sighed and leaned heavily on her elbows.

“Hey,” Barry said, knocking his shoulder against hers. “She’s probably not… _not_ interested.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, these characters are… based off people we know. Loosely based. Merlyn is still in charge of a lot of people, and he’s still a murderer. Joe West is still Iris’ dad, and he’s still a pretty good one. Iris is still brilliant and brave and passionate and independent and…” Barry sighed, sinking a little. “Beautiful.” 

Kara nodded slowly and gave him a one armed hug. “And Mon-El is still… gross. So?”

Barry laughed. “So, maybe Tallulah’s accurate in more ways than just looks. You said she kissed you first, right?”

“Right.” 

“So, whatever internal part of her is based on your Lena, maybe that’s it.”

Something dawned on Kara’s face, and she could hear a faint reprise on the wind - _put a little love in your heart…_

“Hey.”

Kara looked up. “Yeah?”

“How did you two, you and Mon-whatever, ever do, be _anything_ if he’s ‘gross?’”

“I don’t know.” Kara groaned. “When I met him, I thought he was this sexist, hedonistic garbage fire. I thought he was getting less repugnant, but instead, he was just lying to me. The whole time, he was just lying to me. And for a moment today, when I was trying to talk to Cutter and make him see reason, so he’d let Tommy and Millie be together, that I thought I should listen to his side, or forgive him.”

“And after that moment?” Barry asked, gentle, probing.

“The thing is, I _did_ listen to his side. He told me his side. He lied because he wanted me to like him. He lied to make me like him, and he was never going to tell me the truth, and I deserve better than that.” Kara leaned onto Barry’s shoulder and sighed. “Part of me wants to break Millie up with Tommy because I don’t trust that face. He could be my brother in this world and I wouldn’t trust him. If Mon-El and Winn got body switched, I don’t know if I could move past who he looked like. And even here, he gets forgiven for everything he does. He’s apparently a scumbag here, and it all gets swept under the rug, and it’s…”

“Gross?”

“Yeah!”

Barry wrapped an arm around Kara and gave her a squeeze. “All we have to do is get through that performance, and then we’re home. A few hours, and you can super punch Mon-El. The real Mon-El. That’ll be fun, huh?”

Kara huffed a laugh. “I can’t wait.”

They climbed down the fire escape and started down the street again. When they got to the next crosswalk, Barry asked, “How did you know he’s a scumbag here?”

“Huh?”

“I mean, who told you about Tommy Moran being a bad kind of guy?”

Kara tugged him through the crosswalk and said, “Tallulah. She told me something that sounded like Lena. About how women don’t get forgiven, even for things they didn’t do, but people like him get off scot free.”

“So, Tallulah made you feel like it was okay to be mad at Mon-El for being - what was it? - a sexist, hedonistic garbage fire.”

“Yeah. Oh, and he owned slaves on his home planet.”

“That’s disgusting.”

“Uh-huh.”

“ _I’m_ gonna super punch him when we get back.” 

Kara laughed and gave his elbow a squeeze where it was looped through hers. “Thanks, Barry.”

“Any time, Super Friend.”

⭐︎☆⭐︎

Nine sharp, and they were back in Tallulah’s closet, trying on their costumes. They fit like gloves. Barry’s tux looked like it had been made for him, and Kara’s dress fit so perfectly she couldn’t imagine wearing anything else ever again.

“They’re perfect,” Tallulah declared, flattening a sequin on Kara’s shoulder. “Absolutely perfect.”

“All because of you,” Kara said, putting her hand up on her shoulder, over Tallulah’s. It still felt exactly the same, still set off a flutter in her heart. “You’re a genius.”

Tallulah blushed, but did not move her hand. “How’s the fit, tux?”

“It’s great.” Barry did a little pencil turn, just to feel the suit out, and smiled. 

“I figured the let out would be helpful. You got some meat on those stems. Do you run a lot or somethin’?”

Barry swallowed a laugh. “You could say that.”

Kara shook her head, shoulders shaking. “You’re horrible.”

“Nah. I’m pretty great.”

“Don’t get too full of yourself, Allen.”

“Hey! You’re pretty great, too, Danvers.”

Tallulah stepped back, walked around them for one last inspection, and deemed it a pass. “You guys are ridiculous. I’m gonna hang these in the dressing room.” 

Barry went behind the mirrors to change, and Kara wrapped Tallulah up in a hug before either of them could blink.

“Thank you, Lula,” she murmured.

Tallulah’s hands were wrapped around her ribs, her face tucked into Kara’s shoulder. “I don’t know what you’re thankin’ me for, but I’ll take it.”

When they pulled back, Kara bent down and gave Tallulah the sweetest of kisses. “I’m thanking you for that.”

Pink-cheeked and starry-eyed, Tallulah barely managed to sigh, “You’re _very_ welcome, toots.”

Kara stripped out of her dress, stepped back into her street clothes, Tallulah’s deft little hands helping her along the way at every turn even when no help was needed. Fully dressed, she parked herself on a box labeled _TRIMS_ and found herself humming. There was no music sweeping in, no impending dance number - she was just happy to sit by this gorgeous girl and watch her do what made her happy.

Once Barry had put on his street clothes, which took considerably longer to do than Kara’s had what with all the layers a tuxedo demands, he sat down next to Kara. He didn’t say anything, but he did raise his eyebrows meaningfully once or twice while Tallulah was occupied hanging all those pieces up.

“You wanna hang these by your tables, or should I?” she asked once she’d finished, hangers over each arm.

“We can do it,” Kara offered, collecting her gown and swiftly pecking Tallulah on the cheek. “C’mon, Barry.”

Barry took his suit, said his thanks, and ducked back out. 

“Just so’s you know,” Tallulah drawled, fingering the collar of Kara’s blouse, “I’m gonna be in the audience tonight. You were real good yesterday.”

Kara blushed. “I’ll look for you.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

Tallulah grinned and gave Kara a swat on the butt. "Go, get out there!"

"I better see you in the audience."

"Get outta here!"

⭐︎☆⭐︎

_“You’re my super - ”_

_“That has a double meaning!”_

_“Friend!”_

There was uproarious applause, and it was deeply satisfying, but one pair of clapping hands was what really set Kara aglow. 

Right there, in the nosebleeds, was Tallulah, hair up under a fascinator and lipstick sharp, hands moving so frenetically that they were almost a blur. 

Everything was kind of perfect.

And then there were gunshots. 

Barry and Kara ran outside and saw those three warlords, those three proud papas, firing off tommy guns in the middle of the street. Barry went down first, and Kara bolted to his side, taking a slug to the gut and hitting the blacktop before she could think. Then she couldn’t think. Everything was fuzzy, fading, dark.

“Barry… Barry…”

Heels on the sidewalk. Someone running.

Barry groaned her name, but someone else was screaming it. Someone dropped to the ground beside her, and then familiar hands were touching her.

“Lena…”

“Chickie, Kara, you can’t die, c’mon, no, please, you can’t.”

Tallulah. She was pale and her eyes were wet and her hand was on Kara’s stomach, pressing on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. The other’s fingers were cupping the base of her skull, cradling her head, woven into her hair like they’d been when they were kissing.

“Sorry about ruining your dress,” Kara managed.

“I don’t care about the dress,” Tallulah sobbed. “I’ll burn every dress I ever made, I’ll never make a dress again, just _don’t die_.”

Kara leaned into the hand in her hair, forehead against Tallulah’s pulse, and suddenly music bled into the air as she was bleeding out, matching that beat. _“Think of me, think of me fondly, when we’ve said goodbye…”_

“No. Kara, no, we’re not… we’re not saying goodbye.”

 _“Remember me, once in a while, please promise me you’ll try…_ ”

Tallulah shook her head, pulled Kara into her lap and kissed her, crumpled around her like she was trying to shelter her from something, anything, everything. 

And then there was a whooshing sound, too distant to be of note. Someone screamed Barry’s name, someone’s heels pounded closer. Someone said they loved him. He said it back.

Dimly, Kara thought, _I’ll never get to tell Lena that I love her._

And then, _oh._

_I love her._

There was a flash of light, and Kara was somewhere else. 

⭐︎☆⭐︎

She wasn’t bleeding. It wasn’t nighttime. 

Mon-El was kissing her. 

Kara struggled upright, pushing him away with a hand on his chest and pulling off sensor pads. "You don't get to kiss me. Especially when I'm unconscious."  She heard someone moving to her right and twisted to look. “Barry! Are you okay?”

“I’m good,” he groaned. Iris’ hands helped him sit up, and he leaned into her, reassured and strengthened just by her presence. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m okay.” Kara ran a hand through her hair and let out a breath. “You were right, by the way.”

Barry grinned over at her. “I told you.”

“Right about what?” Mon-El asked. 

“Right about me being in love,” Kara said, swinging her legs off the side of the bed and pushing herself to her feet. There was a look on his face, like he was happy, but happy because he’d won. 

Boy, was it satisfying to punch it off. 

“I need to go,” she continued, walking over to Barry and giving him a quick hug. “Thanks, Super Friend.”

He smiled softly and returned the squeeze. “Any time, Super Friend.”

Kara gave Iris a hug, too, and murmured, “Thank you for saving him.” Then she turned to Cisco. “How fast can you get us home?”

“Fast enough.”

J’onn and Kara paced after Cisco, Mon-El trailing behind them, pinching his profusely bleeding nose and dripping on the floor all the way.

As soon as they were zapped back to their Earth, Kara tried to take flight and wobbled, stumbling back to the floor. Alex was at her side immediately, helping her back up. 

“What the hell happened to you?” she asked, walking with her towards the sun lamps. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It was just a - it was weird. That alien put me in some… dreamscape. I was there with Barry, and there were people who looked like people he knew, like people I knew, but they weren’t those people.”

As Kara slid onto the bed and scooted into place, Alex turned the lamps on and asked, “Was I there?”

“No. It was more Barry’s place than mine, I think.” Kara shifted a little and let out a breath. “But Mon-El was there. Winn. And Lena.”

Another whoosh. Alex whipped around, and Kara jerked upright. There, leaning against the doorway, was that weird alien with the red pocket square.

“You!” Kara yelled. 

Alex had her gun out and ready to fire, but when she pulled the trigger, all that came out was a little melody. 

“Is that any way to treat someone who did you a favor?” he said. “I think not.”

“A favor?” Kara pushed off the bed and stormed towards him. “I almost died.”

“But you didn’t!” The alien gave a little spin and grinned. “I just needed to teach you a little lesson about love.”

“Love?” Alex scoffed. “You put my sister in a coma to teach her about love?”

Kara touched her lips. 

“Of course! People are their best when they’re happy, and you’re so interesting to watch when you’re at your best.”

“Wait,” Kara said, curling her fingers away. “If you wanted me to learn a lesson, and the lesson was what got me out, why was Mon-El there? Why did he matter?”

“Oh!” The alien clicked his tongue, firing off finger guns. “He didn’t matter at all. He was a red herring!”

“A red herring?” Alex, incredulous, took another step forward. “What are you?”

“There has to be a third act twist,” the alien said, rolling his eyes. “Take the outdated tropes and turn them on their head - that’s an interesting story!”

Kara’s brow furrowed. “What are you?”

“I’m the Music Meister,” he crowed, “and my work here is done!” He snapped his fingers and was gone.

Alex put the safety back on her gun and nudged Kara back towards the bed. “What happened in that dream world he put you in?”

“I realized something.”

“What did you realize?”

Kara smiled softly and said, “I’m in love with Lena Luthor.”

⭐︎☆⭐︎

Lena’s balcony door was almost always open now. She never knew when Supergirl would come, but she never wanted to shut her out.

Still, it was always a surprise when she did appear.

There was the ripple of her cape, like a flag in a stiff breeze, and it set Lena’s heart aflutter. She turned her chair around and beamed, rising to greet her. “Supergirl! To what do I owe - oh!”

Supergirl’s hand was under her chin, warm and soft and not demanding anything of her. “I want to kiss you,” she murmured, her own heart pounding. “May I kiss you?”

Lena grabbed her by the skirt and pulled her in, fingers tangled in the roots of her hair. It was dizzying. It felt like the world had been tilted on its axis. 

“I need to tell you two things,” Supergirl said when they’d breathlessly parted. “One of them requires an apology, and one of them might feel wrong in conjunction with it, like I’m trying to manipulate you, but I swear to Rao, Lena, I’m not.”

Lena nodded, biting her kiss-swollen lip. “I trust you.”

“Which one first?”

“Apology.”

Supergirl reached into the pocket of her skirt and pulled something out, unfolding it and seating it across her face - a pair of glasses. “I’m Kara Danvers. When there’s no one who needs Supergirl to save them, I’m a reporter for CatCo who eats an unholy amount of doughnuts and potstickers and has Sister Night on Thursdays and Game Night on Wednesdays and brunches on Saturdays with you, the woman I…” She took a breath, swallowed hard. “I’ve been lying to you since we met because I lie to almost everyone about this part of my life because it’s supposed to keep me safe. I’ve had to lie about it since I was thirteen years old. I’m an alien from a planet that is _long_ dead, and I didn’t want you to know because I didn’t want you to be afraid of me.”

Lena’s hands hadn’t left Kara. She slid the one on her skirt around her back, ran her thumb in lazy arcs under her ear.

“And I recently got mad at someone for lying to me the entire time I’ve known him, and it hurt. So I understand if you walk away right now.”

Lena swallowed, nodded. “Alright.”

“I am so, so sorry,” Kara whispered, looking away. “I’m sorry for breaking your trust. I’m sorry for not being honest.”

Lena nodded again. “Alright.” The hand in Kara’s hair stroked through the length of it, and cupped her neck. “Look at me, Kara: what’s the second thing?”

Kara looked her in the eye and said, “I’m in love with you.”

Something caught in Lena’s throat, and she pulled Kara into a hug. “I’m not happy that you lied, Kara.”

“I know. I’m sorry.”

“I’ve spent months angry at myself because I was in love with both of you, and you’re going to tell me I was pissed off for no reason at all?”

Kara’s eyes flew open. “What.”

“You, on both sides, were honest with me about everything but this. You told me the truth about your article. You told me the truth about my mother. You told me the truth when you said you would always be with me.” Lena pulled back just to look at Kara, and brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. “You were good to me. You were kind and caring and - you were everything I could ask for in a companion, platonic or not. I can forgive this lie because it was the only one and because it is the only time you’ve ever been less than absolutely perfect, and even then, I understand why you did it. I would have done the same if I was in your shoes.” She laughed softly and, touching it, said, “Or your cape.”

Kara let out a relieved laugh. “I love you, Lena Luthor. I love you.”

Lena pulled Kara down for another kiss, this one longer, hungrier, than before. It was nine months of restraint crumbling to dust and being burned into something better. 

Somehow, they ended up on Lena’s couch, her legs hitched up around Kara’s waist, those warm strong hands holding her there. “Why now?” she asked, stroking Kara’s cheek. “Why did you decide to tell me now? What happened?”

“I almost died in a musical pocket dimension and your doppelgänger…”

Lena shot upright, cupping Kara’s face, frantically looking her over. “You died!”

“ _Almost_ died,” Kara soothed, mirroring the gesture, smoothing Lena’s hair. “I’m okay now. The thing that put me there set it up so that I could get out when I realized who I loved. And everyone in there was a person from the real world, but _different_ , and you were… you were you, but made to fit the setting.” 

“What was the setting?”

“It appeared to be movie musical in the 1920s. Or 30s.”

Lena’s eyes lit up. “Like _Chicago?_ ”

“With a little _West Side Story_.”

“That sounds like fun. I love musicals.”

“It was, until I got shot,” Kara joked.

“Ugh, don’t say that,” Lena groaned, resting her head in the crook of Kara’s shoulder. “I can’t bear to think about it.”

Kara pulled Lena into her lap and wrapped her in a hug, leaning back on the arm of the couch. “It all turned out okay.”

Lena nodded, pressed a kiss to the column of her neck, to the hinge of her jaw. “So who was I?”

“You were a seamstress named Tallulah at a gangster’s nightclub. I sang there with my friend, Barry - he’s from another dimension.”

“A seamstress?”

“You made my dress,” said Kara wistfully. “It was a really nice dress.”

“So how did Tallulah make you realize you loved me?”

“She held me while I was dying. She kissed me. And I looked up at her face, and I heard Iris and Barry, and thought I would never get to tell you and…”

Kara found herself choking up. Lena pulled back and kissed her, and kissed her and kissed her and kissed her. “You get to kiss me all you like,” she murmured. “I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that promise.”

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written for Supergirl or The Flash before, but I had this idea and I really wanted to get it out there. It ran slightly off-track from what I originally planned, and I might go back in and edit it, but all in all, I'm satisfied. I grew up on movie musicals, so this was really fun.


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